Posts Tagged ‘garden’

In my limited experience with home improvement, I’ve discovered something along the way: I have no major passion or talent when it comes to outdoor projects. In fact, I recently glanced at this post from June 2012, and the to-do list for our backyard is still exactly the same as it was back then.

Create a boxed-in garden

Remove current patio paver bricks

Create larger patio in middle of yard

Fill in patchy grass

Brainstorm a landscaping plan for exterior of yard

A larger patio in the middle of the yard? That sounds lovely and glamorous and like A LOT OF WORK.

Thankfully, Jamie isn’t quite as averse to outdoor projects as me. He knocked out the garden on the above to-do list, and this year he made it even better.

We decided to go for a raised bed because the vegetables struggled in last year’s garden. Not only does the raised bed help with the quality of soil, but it also adds an additional 8 inches to the garden height, which means that the plants will get much more sunlight. Yay sun!

The garden measures 3×10 feet, and took about two days to complete. Supplies included cedar wood from Home Depot’s lumber section and two car trips’ worth of dirt. It’s no wonder why I’m not into outdoor projects!

It’s always fun when J is working on a home project, because he’ll take photos and text me updates as he makes progress. There’s nothing quite as exciting as getting a garden update pic in between meetings. Seriously.

We (and by “we,” I mean my darling husband) planted basil, tomatos, cherry tomatos, cucumber, strawberries, rosemary, onions, jalapeno peppers and arugula. We initially had a problem with birds eating all the leaves, so Jamie added some bird netting. The netting isn’t my favorite looks-wise, but it seems to do the trick. (You can see it peeking out from behind the garden in these photos.)

The garden is only a few weeks old, but it seems to be promising so far. We have some rainy days ahead, so things are looking up! I’ll try to share a few updates on how it comes along throughout the summer.

As for the rest of the yard, it’s pretty much the same. And I still love it. Although it’s tiny and we’re close to a big intersection, the space is a lovely refuge from the city.

Who knows? Maybe one day I’ll get my act together and start working on that patio.

p.s. I celebrated my birthday last week, and it was truly delightful. Thank you to everyone who was part of it. I’ll post details from the party soon!

Before I get to the latest progress on our backyard, I feel like it’s time for a quick update on life: The past few weeks, and the next month or so ahead, have and will be crazy. Jamie and I just got back from Bonnaroo with friends (for those unfamiliar, it’s a festival that basically consists of sleeping in tents, going without showers, and being surrounded by music, fun and 80,000 people for days on end); I’ve been suuuuper busy with work (all exciting stuff, including the fact that I’m giving a talk with Creative Mornings at the end of the month); and we’re just generally busy with all the usual goings-on.

I share all of that because there’s not a free day with nothing to do until August rolls around, so bear with me as blog posts may be sporadic in the meantime.

Thankfully, we have managed to find some time to work on our house, which always makes me happy — especially when life is hectic. So let’s get to the good stuff, shall we?

Remember when our yard looked like this?

Here’s what it looks like today!

We added a fancy new fence, rehung our existing string lights, and — most importantly — dug a cute little garden. I didn’t have much to do with the work: Our neighbors cut down their overgrown bamboo, which improved the view, and Jamie helped out with the fence and created the garden all on his own. I don’t know how he feels about his efforts being described as “cute,” but we’ll keep that between us.

Really, though, the garden is adorable. I love it.

Jamie also took these photos. I think it’s pretty hilarious that Henry the ham made a guest appearance in each shot.

We planted the garden a little late — towards the end of May — but the plants are faring pretty well so far. At this point, the garden requires regular watering and patience.

The garden isn’t the only thing that’s requiring patience, though; mostly, I’m eager for our new section of fence to fade so it will better blend in with the other sections surrounding the backyard. (If that’s not a #whitepeopleproblem, then I’m not sure what is.)

But, uniform-colored fence or not, we’ve made progress! Here’s what’s left to do on the backyard:

Create a boxed-in garden

Remove current patio paver bricks

Create larger patio in middle of yard

Fill in patchy grass

Brainstorm a landscaping plan for exterior of yard

Now here’s hoping we’ll find the time to actually tackle some of the items on the list. Am I the only one who tends to do more around the home when life is super busy? There’s something about organizing a closet or finally painting trim that makes me feel like everything is under control, if even for a brief moment.